Weekend Recap

Happy Monday! I want to first start by sending a heartfelt thank you to all the Veterans and their families for their service and their ongoing protection of our freedom, including to my dad and both of my grandpas! My dad looks like a child below (and exactly like my brother).

Secondly, I want to send prayers of strength and healing to those of you in California and for others that need love and support this week.

Home Projects & Updates

It was a snowy and cold weekend in Omaha, so admittedly, we spent a lot of time on the sofas watching movies. But, I did manage to wrap up a few things around the house this week.

My sweet friend Monica from Amethyst Home gifted me this gorgeous artwork when I was in her shop two weeks ago. I knew it would be perfect in our living room. I had been looking for ages for something to hang in that blank spot but I always wanted something neutral enough I could leave it up all year. This was the perfect solution! I had to hang it a bit higher than I would have liked (that dang light switch and speaker box!) but I love how it looks here! She has it available for purchase on her site here if you’re interested! It’s stunning in person!

On Tuesday, I started a DIY project and it went a bit wild on Instagram. I won’t be sharing the full tutorial for two weeks, but here’s a little sneak peek. I wasn’t able to find navy blue non-glass ornaments anywhere. So I decided to take it old school and make my own marbled ornaments for our office tree! They turned out beautifully and I can’t wait to share them with you!

In the meantime, you can watch my Instagram Stories highlights for a live view of the project and to see the exact products I used. If you’re not familiar with how to find Instagram Stories highlights, you can go to my Instagram account and then click the circle under my name that says Marble Ornaments. The videos will then all start!

I’m still getting a lot of questions about the difference between my two flocked trees. I took two (pretty crappy) iPhone pics last week so you can see them in their unfinished glory. The first one is this 85″ flocked tree. It’s the one in our dining room that I bought last year. This one is fuller and has more natural clumping of flock. I also prefer the warmer tone to the lights. However, it is by far the messiest in terms of the flock shedding!

The next is the 9′ flocked tree in my office. It still needs a bit of tweaking. But I love this one because set up was breeze, I love the taller height, and it is by far a lot less messy. However, it’s not quite as full as the other one, and the lights definitely have more of a white LED look.

Over the weekend Kurtis finally agreed to part ways with the TV we had over our mantle. It had been giving us fits with Netflix and Amazon Prime (the connection speed was super off and it would always buffer). So, he agreed to let us try The Frame TV that I had up in my craft room/TV room. It’s the one that looks like art and it’s actually 10″ smaller (much to Kurtis’ dismay). I need to touch up some paint and then I’ll share it with you. It’s SO much better! I thought it would be interesting to share this image though to show just how bad our trim and cabinet color used to be (you can see those two stripes in the middle). Sometimes it’s easy to forget just how much better the fresh white paint is!

Around Town & For Fun

As I mentioned it was a pretty lazy weekend. You can tell it’s getting a lot colder outside when all four cats are this close to each other.

If I haven’t mentioned before, they are water snobs and beg to get water out of our master bathtub or powder room sink. They fight over who gets to drink and it’s pretty cute to watch 😉 And yes, that is our master bathroom. It’s probably been a few years since I shared it (and all of that dark tile)!

They love nothing more than fresh water and fire time! I still laugh whenever I see Bailey using the mantle legs as her pillow.

We made this super easy “roast” recipe last week. Both times, we only had one of those Hormel pork tenderloins on hand and used that in lieu of a roast. You can find the recipe in this super fancy post here. It’s the same post that has the white chicken chili we make on a weekly basis as well! I need to get them both put into proper posts (with less embarrassing photos)! But, here’s how ours looked yesterday while prepping. It’s amazing how dry everything looks (with only 1/2 cup water) but within a few hours, it has already made tons of gravy with the mix! Such a great cold weather recipe!

Recent Buys & Sales

Following are the sales that have carried over for the weekend. Some stores have even started their pre-Black-Friday sales a week early! But first, I wanted to let you know that some of my sweetest friends in the blogging industry have launched a holiday line with Nordstrom and there are so many cute options! It’s also so fun to hover over each product and see their beautiful faces. So proud of these ladies – they are some of the hardest working people I know! It’s hard to decide, but I think this top is my favorite because it’s the most versatile to mix in with everyday options!

ANTHROPOLOGIE is offering 20% off home items! No code required – total updates at checkout! Shop the sale here.

J CREW is hosting their Friends & Family Sale with 30% off your entire purchase with code FRIENDS. And if you’re a Rewards Member (it’s free to sign up) you can get 35% off your entire purchase with code FAMILY. I can’t stop thinking about this crewneck with jeweled buttons – every single color is perfect! Shop the sale here.

J CREW FACTORY is hosting a stock-up sale, where you get 20% off two items, 30% off three items, and 40% off four or more items with code FALL! How cute is this throw blanket?! Shop the full sale here.

JOSS & MAIN is offering tons of items on clearance up to 75% off! You can shop their sale here.

LOFT is offering 40% off your purchase with code WORKIT. You can shop their sale here.

NORDSTROM just started their fall sale, with up to 40% off current season items. My favorite affordable peacoat is on sale for under $40 in four colors! Not only that, today only – they’re offering buy two of your favorite mascara and get one free! They are also offering 25% off all Dash & Albert rugs (I ordered this runner for our kitchen)! You can shop their sale here.

OLD NAVY is offering 50% off activewear, sweaters, jeans and outerwear, but 20% off your entire purchase at check out! You can shop the sale here.

POTTERY BARN has brought back their buy more, save more sale! If you’ve had your eye on an furniture, like our York Sofas, now is the time to buy when you can get up to 30% off! Shop the entire sale here.

Comments

Hi- I was wondering where your living room rug is from in the above picture. I looked on your shop page but couldn’t find that information. And, how you like the rug with pets and foot traffic. Thanks!

Hi Regina! It’s actually carpet that is inset into the hardwood. Unfortunately I don’t have any sources on it because it was here when we moved in and don’t have any extra. It’s held up pretty well, but recently it got some soot stain on it from the fireplace reno and I’m having a hard time getting them out. Otherwise it has held up great!

Sarah, how do you keep your cats away from your Christmas trees? We rescued two (now very large) kittens earlier this year, and they love to jump, and pull, and get into everything. I have fragile ornaments I’ve collected from countries I’ve visited and would hate to risk them. Nor do I want to keep them packed away. Any advice, please?

I actually used to have a lot more issues when I had faux green Christmas trees. I’ve found since we moved to flocked trees they don’t mess with them (pretty much at all)! I don’t know if it was the green that drew them in to mess with it? Also, all four of our cats are in “senior” range now (even though two act like kittens still) and I feel like they’re slightly less curious. The tree collars definitely help too, because they can’t get under them quite as easily. I still only buy plastic ornaments though, because I have the same fear as you with fragile ones! I hope that helps!